Ex-CEO of Insurance Brokerage Gets Probation

A man who once led a now-defunct insurance brokerage has been ordered with a co-defendant to pay more than $353,000 in restitution over allegations he stole from an employee benefit plan.

Former BLIS International Group CEO Barney T. Lyles of Makaha, Hawaii, was sentenced in federal court in Denver to five years of probation for theft from an employee benefit plan and aiding and abetting.

He and former BLIS Chief Financial Officer Brandon T. Ser Voss must pay a total of $353,445 in restitution. Ser Voss previously was sentenced to five years of probation.

Prosecutors had accused them of embezzling clients’ money that was supposed to be used to pay stop-loss health insurance premiums.

BLIS International Group was based in Denver.